--- title: The Great Pike — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · full text with trees description: The Great Pike, «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: “Ah! --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/25/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old No…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/) / The Great Pike # The Great Pike The Great Pike of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin: the whole text, 110 sentences and 1864 words. The small number after every sentence leads to its own page with its syntax tree and pragmatics, parsed by Mova itself. “Ah\![1](1/ "tree and pragmatics") Who is this?” cried the Wise Woman, rising quickly.[2](2/ "tree and pragmatics") Surprise leaped from her narrow eyes, disappointment sat in her loveless face.[3](3/ "tree and pragmatics") “Is this the young man who went out to plough our field?”[4](4/ "tree and pragmatics") “The field is ploughed,” humbly answered Ilmarinen.[5](5/ "tree and pragmatics") “I have performed my task and now I come to claim my own—the Maid of Beauty for whom I have waited and toiled.”[6](6/ "tree and pragmatics") “Who saw you plough the field of serpents?[7](7/ "tree and pragmatics") Who saw you perform the dreadful task?[8](8/ "tree and pragmatics") Am I to believe your word alone?”[9](9/ "tree and pragmatics") And wise Dame Louhi spoke harshly, gruffly, as one who has never been defeated or denied.[10](10/ "tree and pragmatics") Then, from the dark corner beyond the hearth-stones, suddenly a voice croaked like the voice of a sea-bird breasting the storm.[11](11/ "tree and pragmatics") And out of the gloom emerged the dwarfish form of old Sakko, the last and the wisest of all earth women.[12](12/ "tree and pragmatics") “I will be the hero’s witness,” she croaked.[13](13/ "tree and pragmatics") “Unknown to him, I was hidden close beside the field of deadly serpents.[14](14/ "tree and pragmatics") I saw the young man perform his task, and he performed it well.[15](15/ "tree and pragmatics") Twelve broad furrows he made towards the east, towards the west; twelve other furrows he made towards the north, towards the south.[16](16/ "tree and pragmatics") The ground was heaped up, deep trenches were made.[17](17/ "tree and pragmatics") The serpents reared their heads, they ran out of their holes, hissing and dismayed; they were overwhelmed and destroyed; not one remains.[18](18/ "tree and pragmatics") Give the hero his prize.[19](19/ "tree and pragmatics") Give him the duckling for whom he has risked so much.”[20](20/ "tree and pragmatics") “No, no!” answered Dame Louhi, graver, grimmer than ever before.[21](21/ "tree and pragmatics") “Any man can kill snakes.[22](22/ "tree and pragmatics") Shall this poor Smith have my daughter for performing so paltry a task as that?[23](23/ "tree and pragmatics") No! no\![24](24/ "tree and pragmatics") But there is another task which perhaps he would like to try—an undertaking worthy of a hero, although I fear too difficult for this young man!”[25](25/ "tree and pragmatics") She spoke tauntingly, bitterly, unkindly.[26](26/ "tree and pragmatics") Then Ilmarinen’s boastfulness returned, and he answered proudly, fearlessly: “Never yet was there anything too difficult for me.[27](27/ "tree and pragmatics") Did I not hammer out the sky and set the stars where they belong?[28](28/ "tree and pragmatics") Did I not find Iron in his hiding places and subdue him?[29](29/ "tree and pragmatics") Did I not forge the Sampo and shape its lid of rainbow colors?[30](30/ "tree and pragmatics") Harder things than these will I do if only you will surely give me your daughter.”[31](31/ "tree and pragmatics") “Listen then,” said the cunning Mistress.[32](32/ "tree and pragmatics") “In the dark and sluggish river that surrounds the land of Tuonela there lives a monstrous fish, a pike so huge, so scaly, so fierce that all the fishes of the sea obey him.[33](33/ "tree and pragmatics") Hundreds of brave fishermen have sought to snare him, but not one has lived to tell his story.[34](34/ "tree and pragmatics") Go, now, and capture this king of fishes.[35](35/ "tree and pragmatics") Take him without using net or tackle and bring his head to me.[36](36/ "tree and pragmatics") Then I will surely give you my daughter; you shall have the blue-winged duckling; you shall wait no longer, toil no longer, but be at once rewarded with your prize.”[37](37/ "tree and pragmatics") The hero heard and deep dejection came upon him.[38](38/ "tree and pragmatics") He hung his head, he turned away and walked slowly, silently out into the darkening twilight.[39](39/ "tree and pragmatics") He sat down on the rocks by the shore and looked out over the cold and pitiless sea.[40](40/ "tree and pragmatics") “Now, I may as well die,” he said.[41](41/ "tree and pragmatics") “This last task is impossible.[42](42/ "tree and pragmatics") For how can any one, without net or tackle, catch and subdue the Great Pike? and how can I hope to drag him from the sluggish water and bring his head hither to the Mistress of Pohyola?[43](43/ "tree and pragmatics") Vainly have I lived, vain have been all my valiant deeds, vain indeed is life with all its empty victories; there is naught that is worth the doing.”[44](44/ "tree and pragmatics") Suddenly he heard light footsteps behind him, suddenly the darkness was dispelled and the smiling Maid of Beauty laid her hand upon his shoulder.[45](45/ "tree and pragmatics") “O Ilmarinen, prince of wizards, smith of all smiths!” she said.[46](46/ "tree and pragmatics") “Why are you so despondent?[47](47/ "tree and pragmatics") The task is not so hard as you imagine.”[48](48/ "tree and pragmatics") “But I cannot perform it,” said the hero.[49](49/ "tree and pragmatics") “I dare not attack the Great Pike in the dismal stream of Tuonela.”[50](50/ "tree and pragmatics") “Only women say, ‘I cannot,’ only cowards say, ‘I dare not,’” laughed the maiden cheerily.[51](51/ "tree and pragmatics") “You see I have learned a lesson from your elder brother, the prince of minstrels.[52](52/ "tree and pragmatics") Now I will tell you how to catch the Great Pike of Tuonela.[53](53/ "tree and pragmatics") Go at once to your magic smithy and forge a fiery eagle with flaming wings and iron talons.[54](54/ "tree and pragmatics") Then sally forth upon your errand; have no fear, but be wise and valiant.”[55](55/ "tree and pragmatics") Ilmarinen would have replied, but she had vanished.[56](56/ "tree and pragmatics") He buckled his armor about him and with right good courage hastened to his smithy.[57](57/ "tree and pragmatics") There for many days he toiled at his forge; for many days he watched the magic caldron in the midst of his glowing furnace; for many days he tried all his wizard arts, singing strange songs and reciting secret runes which only the wisest may ever know.[58](58/ "tree and pragmatics") At length one morning he drew the caldron from the fire and lifted the lid.[59](59/ "tree and pragmatics") “Art thou there, my eagle?” he cried.[60](60/ "tree and pragmatics") Quickly from the clouds of scalding vapor a wonderful bird leaped into being.[61](61/ "tree and pragmatics") Her wings were as large as the sails of a ship, her claws and beak were of the hardest iron, her eyes were like flaming fire.[62](62/ "tree and pragmatics") “Here I am, my master, what will you have me do?”[63](63/ "tree and pragmatics") “O, my eagle,” answered the Smith, “carry me swiftly towards the land of Tuonela, fly with speed and pause not till the sluggish, silent river is beneath you.[64](64/ "tree and pragmatics") Then find for me the Great Pike, so huge, so scaly, the king of all the fishes.[65](65/ "tree and pragmatics") Help me take the slippery monster from its lair beneath the waters.”[66](66/ "tree and pragmatics") The wonder bird spread her wings and Ilmarinen leaped up between them and seated himself upon her back.[67](67/ "tree and pragmatics") The bird screamed and began her flight.[68](68/ "tree and pragmatics") Up, up, up into the high air she soared.[69](69/ "tree and pragmatics") Then, swifter than the wind, she sailed straight onward, towards the mystic island and the dark and dismal river.[70](70/ "tree and pragmatics") How far did she fly?[71](71/ "tree and pragmatics") No man can tell; for none can know whether Tuonela be in this place or in that, whether it is one day’s journey distant or an hundred.[72](72/ "tree and pragmatics") From the graybeard it is only a step, a stone’s throw, a short walk at most; from the babe upon the floor it may be a thousand weary leagues removed.[73](73/ "tree and pragmatics") At length, however, the goal was reached and the flaming eagle stayed her flight.[74](74/ "tree and pragmatics") She swooped down and perched herself upon a rock which overhung the shore.[75](75/ "tree and pragmatics") Beneath it flowed the sluggish river, dark and dismal and deathlike; beyond lay the shores of the silent land where Tuoni reigns; above it was the ashy-gray sky where no bird flies and no star has ever twinkled.[76](76/ "tree and pragmatics") Upon this rock the eagle sat and watched for her prey, and Ilmarinen waited patiently beside her.[77](77/ "tree and pragmatics") By and by from the black mud at the river’s bottom a water sprite arose.[78](78/ "tree and pragmatics") It rose quickly, it leaped high into the air and with its long fingers clutched at Ilmarinen.[79](79/ "tree and pragmatics") Then, indeed, would the hero have met his death had not the eagle saved him.[80](80/ "tree and pragmatics") She seized the fearful sprite by the head; with her iron talons she twisted the creature’s neck and forced it to hide again in the slimy, pitch-like ooze in the bed of the murky stream.[81](81/ "tree and pragmatics") Suddenly from amid the darkness the Great Pike came swimming.[82](82/ "tree and pragmatics") No small fish was he, for his back was seven times longer than the longest boat, his teeth were like great spears set round the entrance to a cavern, and his eyes glowed like two flaming fires on the summit of a mountain.[83](83/ "tree and pragmatics") Fiercely he dashed through the water, high into the air he leaped, thinking to seize and swallow Ilmarinen.[84](84/ "tree and pragmatics") But now the eagle rushed to the rescue.[85](85/ "tree and pragmatics") No small eagle was she, for her beak was six times longer than the longest boat oar, her talons were like the sharpened scythes of the mowers in the meadows of Hero Land, and her eyes glittered like two great suns glaring down from the top of the sky.[86](86/ "tree and pragmatics") Terrible indeed was the fight that followed.[87](87/ "tree and pragmatics") Dashing swiftly upward the fish sought to seize the eagle with his spear-like teeth; he caught the tip of her right wing, he drew it into the water and with might and main strove to pull the giant bird into the depths.[88](88/ "tree and pragmatics") But the eagle, with one foot gripping the rock, struck fiercely at her foe; with her iron beak she tore the scales from the fish’s back, she forced him to retreat into the murky deep.[89](89/ "tree and pragmatics") Not long, however, was the fight delayed, for soon the furious fish rose again and, swift as lightning, leaped upward to the combat.[90](90/ "tree and pragmatics") The bird of iron, her wings all glowing as with fire, was ready for him.[91](91/ "tree and pragmatics") She struck with her scythe-like talons; she seized him midway behind his gills; with a mighty effort she drew him from the water and bore him, struggling, helpless, dying, to the topmost branch of a wide-spreading oak.[92](92/ "tree and pragmatics") There she sat, screaming with joy and anon tearing her prey and feasting upon it.[93](93/ "tree and pragmatics") She ripped the scales from the Great Pike’s glistening sides; she tore the fins away; she devoured the long breast and the jointed tail; she sundered the head from the mighty shoulders, cleaving the gills with her iron beak.[94](94/ "tree and pragmatics") And under the tree stood Ilmarinen, helpless, imploring, angrily remonstrating, “O faithless bird\![95](95/ "tree and pragmatics") O wicked eagle\![96](96/ "tree and pragmatics") Why do you devour the fish that you were created to capture?[97](97/ "tree and pragmatics") What shall I say to the pitiless mother at Pohyola when I return empty-handed?[98](98/ "tree and pragmatics") What proof shall I offer that the Great Pike has indeed been taken?”[99](99/ "tree and pragmatics") The eagle screamed until the sky seemed rent in twain by the shrill echoes of her voice.[100](100/ "tree and pragmatics") Then she threw the fish’s head from her—it fell at Ilmarinen’s feet.[101](101/ "tree and pragmatics") She flapped her fiery wings until the sun glowed hot above her; she leaped from her perch; she soared upward, higher and higher, above the treetops, above the desolate mountains.[102](102/ "tree and pragmatics") Into the land of clouds she soared.[103](103/ "tree and pragmatics") The thunder rolled; the lightning flashed; the rainbow-bridge, Jumala’s bridge of many colors, was shivered and broken.[104](104/ "tree and pragmatics") Not for a moment did the bird of iron pause, nor did she rest in her flight until she reached the distant moon.[105](105/ "tree and pragmatics") There, folding her fiery pinions, she alighted, content to make her home on that changeable orb.[106](106/ "tree and pragmatics") And there, on clear summer nights, you may often see her pecking at the stars and scarring the sky with her scythe-like talons.[107](107/ "tree and pragmatics") Ilmarinen, wondering at the might of his own invention, lifted the head of the Great Pike from the ground.[108](108/ "tree and pragmatics") With much labor he laid it across his shoulders and adjusted it upon his sturdy back.[109](109/ "tree and pragmatics") Then, with hope in his heart and courage in his feet, he turned his face once more towards distant Pohyola and the Frozen Land.[110](110/ "tree and pragmatics") - ← previous: [The Field of Serpents](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/24/) - next →: [The Bridegroom’s Triumph](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/26/) - ↑ back to [The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/)